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Friday, January 28, 2011

Critical And Viewer Responses To Harry Potter 7

By Sarah Jenters


Ever since the famous books started being turned into movies, critics and fan alike have been registering their opinions on the latest offerings of the series. Harry Potter 7, The Deathly Hallows Part One, was released in November 2010 to a US audience. It attracted mostly positive attention, with a few naysayers in the works.

The Potter series starts with a young boy who is just finding his way in the world, and going on some adventures along the way. Without enough information to properly understand the severity of the situation, the first few books and movies are rather light-hearted. They progress along the way into the dark and anguished world of the wizarding war as the series unfolds, though. The Deathly Hallows chronicles the period immediately before the final battles of a war, and as such, is dark and fairly downtrodden.

As would be expected for the seventh movie of any series, this one throws you right in. There is no explanation for much of the goings-on, and viewers without the previous six films or books as background are likely to be hopelessly lost. But not spending time on explanations is both true to the books and a good choice for the films-- there's hardly enough time to tell the complex story in the time allotted even without some kind of recap.

The response to the acting was, unsurprisingly, nearly universally positive. Six previous films have spoken to the quality of the actors and actresses employed in these movies, and the young leads received their usual acclaim. There were few complaints among either critics or viewers about the performances of the youthful but talented Potter cast.

Complaints about this latest film were mainly focused on the fact that it is the first part of a two part sequence. Because of this, the storyline is necessarily unfinished, and the movie contains a lot of set-up and exposition. In order to remain as true to the book as possible, however, all of this build-up and information is important, but some people found it long and stagnant.

The other main issue was with the amount of time spent by the characters pondering and anguishing about their situations. However, this particular movie is the build-up to an epic battle that will end the war once and for all, and the emotionally-fraught moments spent thinking about their mortality and uncertain futures felt appropriate to most viewers. The dark and serious tone of the movie is also very true to the book.

This is undoubtedly a bit slower than the previous movies, at least since the earliest ones. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. The pacing is quicker at the beginning and end, and slows somewhat in the middle to a more thoughtful speed. Given that large amounts of information about the history and potential outcome of the war are included in these slower sequences, they are essential to the storyline as well as the atmosphere.

People who were not fans of the books or previous movies are unlikely to enjoy Harry Potter 7. However, some people who were not fans of the previous movies but liked the books might enjoy this one. It sticks more closely to the books than any of the movies since perhaps number two. The overall reaction to the film by both critics and viewers was mixed, but leaning towards the positive.




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